Breach of Contract
by guillotineghosties
Summary: The Velvet Room attendants take on a certain contract when signing over their soul for immortality. When broken, they develop the risk of forming a shadow... Written for the badbadbathouse kink meme!


Sex wasn't necessarily forbidden to those that had entered into a contract and bound themselves to the Velvet Room; that wouldn't have been fair, given that physical pleasure with another being was somewhat of a necessity for the three siblings.  
But regrets were highly discouraged, and sex with mere mortals-or worse, the treasured guests-could pave the road for a yearning to do things over.

And regrets led to...

Theodore knew, understood, and agreed these rules when he'd taken his oath during the ever so secret proceedings that transformed his soul centuries ago.  
He didn't remember much of his life from before then. His humanity had been wiped, leaving him ignorant of the outside world and its customs. His older sisters were the only remnant of those forgotten times. The memories were erased, but some tidbits of information stuck like permanent marker to a whiteboard.  
He knew that he'd loved someone and held them dearly, and that someone held an uncanny familiarity to Minako Arisato, a guest that had signed a contract of her own.  
Or perhaps they didn't, and he'd been trying to justify his attraction to said guest throughout their outings together as a way to delude himself into thinking he wasn't going to break his contract.

He adored this guest so sincerely.

Minako had taught him so much about her world and had been so patient in explaining the foreign human practices to him that he couldn't help but adore her.  
She'd never hesitated to take his hand, to give him tender kisses on the cheek, or to force laughter at his attempts to be humerous.  
It was only naturally that, when one cherishes someone so dearly, that they wish to bring them pleasure, yes?

Theodore thought about that day now.  
He remembered how small she was, how that delicate frame trembled at his touch and cried out in pure animalistic pleasure under him, leaving scratches along his shoulder blades that bore red streaks along his porcelain skin-yes, that time had been so sinful.  
He realized after they'd forged their souls together that he had to stop seeing her like this, because if he didn't, he would forget his duties as an attendant of the sacred Velvet Room.  
He would have regrets.

He'd fooled himself into thinking that he'd evaded such a cruel fate, but when that girl so nobly sacrificed herself for the sake of a world that yearned for death, he realized that the hook of human reasoning had been anchored into the pit of his stomach.

He had a regret now-letting her die.  
And now that regret had led to the manifestation of a shadow.

His kind wasn't supposed to be able to form these subconscious monstrosities of raw emotion.  
These things were the reason for the rules in place-for the contract that he'd so unknowingly breached.

Theodore stood before his other self, alone in the blackness of his mind.

"I must say, Theodore!" The shadow carried a haughty, aristocratic tone in its voice, and moved his arms as he spoke, a composer of a symphony of self. "I have been waiting ages and ages to make my debut here before you! Here you are, my good boy, still slaving away in the Velvet Room under that toucan nosed old man when you could be joining your sister!"

"I know exactly what you are, shadow!" Theodore spoke as boldly and courageously as he could, noting that he would have to hold his temper around it lest he fall into the trap of denial. It was designed to prod at his every sensitivity. "  
"And I shall not allow you to get the best of me! I may have regrets now, but I cannot abandon my post as Elizabeth did."

Elizabeth, being the middle child, did always have something of a wildstreak in her spirit.  
The two of them had experienced virtually the same romance at the exact same time, although in separate universes.  
And both of the Arisatos had met the same end.  
She was determined to save the boy that she'd fallen so in love with, and had fled from the Velvet Room as to look for a means to revive him.  
What she did was unforgivable in their world.

"Oh, rules, rules, rules!" The shadow sighed, moving his hand as if to clear away clouds of smoke. "That's all it is here-just rules! The human world is so fascinating, though, isn't it? I wonder, who were we as a human? Not that it matters! We disposed of those thoughts so long ago, didn't we? Now the only thing that occupies your mind is Minako Arisato. You would love to join Elizabeth. For the two of you to reclaim the sacrificial lambs of this earth all for yourselves and scamper away to live happily ever after."

"That isn't true!" Theodore retaliated, his spellbook summoned to his forearm in a flash of blue light. "I'll put an end to you, shadow!"

He told himself that he wouldn't lose his footing here.

"Not going to deny me as a whole?"

"I know better than to push you into a more monstrous form."

"After you vanquish me, then what will your next course of action be? I'll simply seep back into your heart. You know this, as well. I am not something that can be erased."  
The shadow stepped closer to him, his footsteps echoing through the nothingness.

Theodore stood his ground. "I'll return to my duties as a loyal attendant to the future guests, of course."  
He questioned himself as to why he was even allowing the shadow to continue its grandeur speech.  
Perhaps he deserved it?  
Punishment is required for those that break the rules, after all, and what greater punishment than a shadows taunting?

"You cannot return to normalcy, Theodore. Your heart is aching, pulsing with disgust for yourself. You wish to see her again." The shadow placed a gloved hand to his shoulder, gleaming, yellow eyes watery with a newfound sadness. "You think about her every day. You long to hear her voice again, lest you forget it and the emulations in your head warp with imagination. You long to hold her again, to have her warmth pressed against you in the bareness of intimacy."

Theodore couldn't yield a response. He looked away from the shadow, inwardly repeating a mantra to himself that this dark being was full of lies and exaggerations.

"We're suffering, Theodore. We're hurting. This aching inside. It's as if our own heart has been skewered by the cruelties of destiny." The shadow placed its other hand to his cheek and forced him to meet his doppelganger's gaze.  
The compendium slid from his grip and fell to the floor, closing itself with a smack to the unseen ground.

"Theodore..." The shadow embraced him now, leaving the man speechless for the first time in centuries. The distorted voice trembled. "Please, we cannot bear this any longer..."

He cautiously caressed the shadows back, staring into the unseen distance as the being of darkness evaporated into an unrecognizable mist and separated into thin air.

He'd pushed away the thoughts so many times before, distracting himself with cleaning the wine glasses or shuffling a deck of cards, but hearing the pleas from his own mouth had swayed his heart now.

From the fragments of his shadow and from the depths of his soul emerged a familiar beast before him-Thanatos.  
The god of death roared viciously in a display of power to its new master.  
Elizabeth had tapped into this exact same power when she'd resolved to free Minato from his prison, albeit the form that appeared to her was darker in coloration.

He placed a gloved hand atop of Persona's head in reassurance.  
This mighty power was his now, and he could do with it what he had sought.


End file.
